Cowboy Bebop; Ein dogs were really spoiled on set

. The Cowboy Bebop dogs, Charlie and Harry, who play Ein the Pembroke Welsh Corgi, were a pretty big hit with their fellow castmates and crew members on the live-action Netflix series.

Due to long filming hours, two nearly identical (but not apparently related) dogs from New Zealand share the role of the data dog from the futuristic space Western, much like Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen shared the role of Michelle Tanner on Full House or Dylan and Cole Sprouse on Grace Under Fire. 

If you aren’t familiar with Cowboy Bebop, it’s a space Western set in the early 2070s, combining sci-fi future tech with old-school jazz, and it almost certainly inspired Joss Whedon’s creation of cult classic Firefly, though this has never officially been proven. A ragtag group of bounty hunters gradually become a found family through the lone season, enduring many adventures and harrowing situations.

(While the Firefly ‘verse didn’t include any canines on the show, a black market for Beagles does exist, according to Nathan Filion’s Mal Reynolds.)

Actress Danielle Pineda, who plays bounty hunter Faye Valentine, hinted that she and her fellow humans may have spoiled Charlie and Harry on set with extra treats, because as actor John Chu (Spike Spiegel) notes, “Dogs are showstoppers. Everybody just stops working, and its cuddle time.”

“They’re both fantastic,” showrunner Andre Nemec told Entertainment Weekly. “They’re little kings of the set. Everybody wants time with the corgis.”

Cowboy Bebop Ein dog actors totally stole the show while filming.

In the original 1998 Japanese anime series, Ein was genetically modified to have superintelligence (include being able to speak human languages and play chess), escaping from dognappers and becoming part of the crew of bounty hunters on the spaceship Bebop. 

His exact role and storylines are currently unknown, but it seems quite likely that he will steal all the attention from the first season of the Netflix series, which drops on Friday, November 19. (The original anime can be viewed for free on Tubi.)

One of the Corgis was used for most scenes requiring direction, while the other was used more often when Ein needed to be held, and all those extra treats added significantly to their weight, much to the surprise (and mild discomfort) of the humans holding them during scenes.

“If you wanted to get cool with the dog, just have some chicken in your hand, otherwise he’s not very interested in you at all,” actor Mustafa Shakir, who plays Spike’s bounty hunter partner Jet Black, told EW, adding that they were super cute, which almost goes without saying.

And all that chicken meant that drool often occurred, too – which meant that the makeup team would sometimes have to wipe down Pineda’s arms between takes while filming Ein scenes.

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